Airports get grants for improvements
State aviation officials earmarked $767,500 for Butler County airport improvements Wednesday morning.
The Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport and the Butler Farm Show Airport are among the 29 airports getting a piece of a $13.7 million pie in the latest round of aviation grant funding through state Department of Transportation programs.
The regional airport is getting two grants, according to a news release: a $250,000 grant will cover 50 percent of planned improvements to the airport's administration building; and a $450,000 grant will cover 75 percent of costs related to the rehabilitation of taxiways and the construction of an access road.
The farm show airport is getting a $67,500 grant for pavement repairs and to perform regular runway remarking.
Ike Kelly, manager of the regional airport, said the grant dollars were expected, but the exact timing wasn't known.
“We've been expecting it, but we were beginning to think it might come in the next funding cycle,” Kelly said. “We're pleased that it has arrived.”
The administration building is 25 years old, Kelly said. Much of the planned work is to make it more accessible to people with disabilities. Airport officials hope work will begin within the next month.
The taxiway improvements are fairly routine, he explained. Some paths need total reconstruction down to their base, while others need only lighter repairs.
“That's the nature of old pavement, you have to take care of it over time,” Kelly said.
“Investment in our aviation infrastructure is vital to the economic vitality of the commonwealth,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a news release announcing the grant dollars.
Ongoing runway extension plans at the airport are currently waiting on two reports to come back from federal entities. Results should be known in January, Kelly said, of both a cost-benefits analysis and an environmental study of the plan.
He said they hope to put out a request for quotes soon to keep moving toward a new runway design.
Under the runway extension timeline, work would be done in 2024; however, Kelly said he hopes an accelerated time frame is possible for it to be done in spring of 2021.
The longer runway wouldn't allow for big airliners, but mid-sized corporate jets would have an easier time landing in Butler County.
